On Monday, smoke from residential wood burning is expected to cause unhealthy air throughout the Bay Area, said Jack Broadbent, executive officer of the Air District. During this holiday season, when respiratory health is a priority for us all, it is critical that everyone does their part to improve air quality and protect public health by not burning wood.
It s illegal for residents and businesses in the region to use their fireplaces, wood stoves, pellet stoves, outdoor fire pits or any other wood-burning devices during a Spare the Air Alert for fine particle pollution.
Exemptions are available for homes without permanently installed heating, where wood stoves or fireplaces are the only source of heat. Anyone whose sole source of heat is a wood-burning device must use an EPA-certified or pellet-fueled device registered with the air district to qualify for an exemption. An open-hearth fireplace no longer qualifies for an exemption.
Spare the Air alert extended through Tuesday
Bay City News Service
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The San Francisco skyline is barely visible through hazy and smoky conditions on Sept. 3, 2020. The Bay Area Air Quality Management District has issued a Spare the Air Alert for Monday, meaning a ban on burning wood, manufactured fire logs or any other solid fuel, both indoors and outdoors.Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
LATEST, Dec. 21, 4:56 p.m. The Spare the Air alert has been extended through Tuesday. Air quality is expected to be unhealthy due to weather conditions trapping wood smoke pollution near the ground, wrote the Bay Area Air Quality Management District.
Written by Los Altos Town Crier Report
The Bay Area Air Quality Management District Dec. 2 reported a settlement with Lehigh Cement and Lehigh White Cement that officials said will reduce harmful air emissions at plants nationwide, including the one in the Cupertino foothills.
The agreement with federal and local agencies involves alleged violations of the Clean Air Act. As part of the settlement, Lehigh will invest $12 million in pollution control technology at 11 of its portland cement manufacturing plants, three of which are in California.
The action comes after approval of a consent decree lodged last year in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania by the Air District, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and other local agencies. The settlement centers on alleged violations of the Clean Air Act.
The Bay Area Air Quality Management District is accepting applications for $40 million in grants for projects designed to reduce toxic air emissions and ozone-forming pollutants from older diesel engines.
That includes medium- and heavy-duty trucks and buses, mobile construction and industrial equipment, agricultural equipment, marine vessels, locomotives, and school buses.
The district said funding is available to replace an old vehicle or equipment with the cleanest available technology; replace an old engine with an emission-certified engine; convert existing diesel equipment to operate on electric or hybrid power; or install the infrastructure to charge or fuel new equipment.
âDiesel exhaust is a significant public health threat, and its impacts fall heaviest on communities already burdened by air pollution, said Jack Broadbent, the districtâs executive officer. He said the grants would pay for âcleaner-than-required equipment to improve air quality in neighbor